30 October 2013

Help the Little Guy // Savvy Business Secrets for Creative Entrepreneurs #31Days

Can you remember back to the time when you learned to ride your bike? You were so wobbly, and more so because you were shaking a little bit a lot than from lack of skill, some because of excitement and some because you were just plain scared. Thankfully your dad had a strong hold on the back of that bike seat, and you knew he was going to let go eventually, but thankfully he didn't until you were good and focused on that road, confident as you peddled on.

And the first time you made it to the end of the cul de sac, all your family was there, and they cheered and made a huge deal out of the accomplishment, because they'd been in your proverbial seat before, and knew that part of the learning and succeeding is having people there to cheer you on and hang onto your seat until you're ready to stay up on your own.

I wonder if it's the same in business.

Wherever you are in your business right now, there's someone who's not quite as far along as you. Their ideas are new and fresh, their work ethic is strong, their integrity the driver. Where they're headed is so good and so relevant - you believe in what they're doing - but they just haven't yet gotten to where you are.

As someone who's been on the bike before, making it to the end of the cul de sac, hang onto their seat to steady their nervous legs a bit. Cheer them on. Make a big deal about people who are just a little behind where you are. Find or ask(!) what would be valuable to them, what would build into their business, their visibility, their credibility. Then do something. Build into what you think the world needs more of.

Some of those things might be:

A simple re-tweet

An Instagram of their design/hand-letting/handbag/blog post

A handwritten note of encouragement

An email introduction between two people who could work synergistically

A blog post

Hey big people: Let's build into little people so we get more really awesome big people to build into lots of really awesome little people who turn into big people.

Ok?

This post is part of a series called Savvy Business Secrets for Creative Entrepreneurs. You can read other posts in the series right here, or make a selection based on topic: